nucmednet Chapter 361 Guishan and Guiyuan
Chapter 361 Guishan and Guiyuan
Gui Yuan returned to the corridor with a gloomy face and saw Gui Shan and Zuo Xiangwan discussing the art of playing the zither.
Zuo Xiangwan was one of the most outstanding noble ladies in Kyoto, and she played the zither exceptionally well. However, only the Gui family knew that Gui Shan's zither skills far surpassed Zuo Xiangwan's.
But Gui Shan knew how to conceal her talents. She was adept at social maneuvering, but her talents were not fully revealed, and others never knew the extent of her abilities.
So, all this is just so that at the crucial moment, one can make a name for oneself.
Gui Yuan only glanced at her before noticing Gui Shan's unusual behavior. She was still trying to hide her true abilities, but her gaze on Zuo Xiangwan was anything but innocent.
She wants to deal with Zuo Xiangwan?
A smile appeared on Gui Yuan's lips.
The noble ladies are all the same; they appear innocent on the surface, but harbor countless secrets and shady dealings in private. Zhao Ning is like this, and Gui Shan is even more so.
So why can't Gui Yuan fight back?
She not only wanted to retaliate, but also to ruin Zhao Ning's reputation!
Guiyuan turned to leave, but Guishan called her back.
"Yuanyuan, Miss Zuo's song is very beautiful. Come and listen to it with me."
In the past, Guiyuan would always give Guishan face in public, letting everyone see how close the Gui sisters were.
But today she really didn't want to pretend, so she just smiled faintly and said, "Elder sister, I'm not feeling well. It's crowded and stuffy here. I want to go...get some fresh air."
Without waiting for Guishan's reply, she hurriedly left.
Gui Shan felt something was amiss and turned to apologize to Zuo Xiangwan: "Sister Zuo, I'm so sorry, my sister has indeed been feeling unwell these past two days."
"I see she's fine, but you've lost a lot of weight." Zuo Xiangwan waved her hand. "Whatever you want."
Gui Shan bowed and turned to chase after Gui Yuan.
Sitting next to Zuo Xiangwan was Zhu Qingtang.
Because of Zhu Qingwei's affair, the Zhu family suffered a setback and for more than half a year, they could hardly hold their heads up among the nobles in the capital.
However, as Zhu Qingtang reached a certain age, she needed to travel, so Madam Zhu, Zuo, had no choice but to return to her parents' home to ask for help. Therefore, this time, Zuo Xiangwan brought Zhu Qingtang along as well.
Zhu Qingtang looked at Gui Shan with obvious displeasure and whispered to Zuo Xiangwan, "A girl from a humble family has actually caught the eye of His Highness the Crown Prince. Cousin, how can you tolerate her?"
"Qingtang, stop talking nonsense. She will be serving His Highness the Crown Prince with me. We are sisters, so we should be close." Zuo Xiangwan scolded her lightly, then got up and led her away.
He only gave instructions when they were alone.
“If you can’t speak, then don’t speak. In the future, the Crown Prince’s palace will not be just me. There will always be noble ladies who will enter the palace. If it’s not Guishan, there will be others. Her family background is not prominent, and she relies on His Highness the Crown Prince for her livelihood. She will definitely be obedient and compliant. Having such a concubine to assist me is a good thing.”
Zhu Qingtang was displeased: "Cousin, she is not worthy of His Highness at all; she can barely be a concubine!"
Zuo Xiangwan's expression hardened: "Can't you understand what I'm saying? Of the three concubines in the Eastern Palace, we don't yet know which girl will be chosen for the other two. I must win over suitable people in advance."
“Cousin…” Zhu Qingtang tugged at Zuo Xiangwan’s sleeve, “Cousin, no outsider is as caring as family, right?”
Zuo Xiangwan was stunned for a moment before she realized: "You want to enter the Crown Prince's Palace?"
Zhu Qingtang quickly said, "Cousin, you and I are sisters. If we enter the Eastern Palace together, I will definitely become your right-hand woman!"
Zuo Xiangwan's gaze was deep, and she did not say anything to refute him, only saying that she would think of a way.
Meanwhile, Gui Shan caught up with Gui Yuan and stopped her, saying, "Yuan Yuan, what happened? Why are you unhappy?"
"Don't worry about it."
Gui Shan grabbed Gui Yuan's hand and said, "Yuan Yuan, I'm your own sister, how could I not care about you?"
"As long as you don't persuade the Crown Prince to marry me off to some nobody, I'll be thanking my lucky stars!"
Hearing her younger sister's sarcastic remarks, Gui Shan felt very uncomfortable, but she still said, "Yuan Yuan, you've misunderstood your older sister."
"Misunderstanding?" Gui Yuan sneered. "Misunderstanding what? Gui Shan, you're so eager to climb the ranks. You're not satisfied with just being the Crown Prince's concubine. Do you want to go even further? Don't think I can't see through your intentions!"
Gui Shan looked at Gui Yuan, took a deep breath, and said, "I did all this for you..."
"Enough! Gui Shan, don't you find this disgusting? For my sake? Did I ask you to compete for the position of Crown Princess? It's ridiculous. You think I'm not good enough for the Feng family's son, but you think you're worthy of the Crown Princess position?"
Gui Shan pursed her lips for a long time before saying, "Yuanyuan, it doesn't matter if there's a misunderstanding between us, but I hope you understand that we are sisters, and I would never, ever harm you. I also won't let the Crown Prince arrange any more marriages for you."
Gui Yuan didn't want to listen to her and turned away.
Si Jia's second sister was talking with Du Shangge and Du Zhirong at the moment.
Feng Zizhou walked over and said, "Second cousin, I have something I want to tell you."
"What?"
Feng Zizhou smiled and said, "Have you seen the files left by His Highness Prince Ning yesterday?"
"His Highness Prince Ning left behind a file? I didn't know that." The second sister got up and walked towards Feng Zizhou. "Is it something urgent? I finished my shift too early yesterday, so I may not have noticed."
Feng Zizhou said, "It seems the clerk didn't explain things clearly. Come here, and I'll explain it to you in detail."
When the matter of the case file was brought up, the second sister took it very seriously and, without any suspicion, followed her to sit down in the pavilion next to her.
Feng Zizhou didn't mention the dossier, but only talked about the things that Prince Ning had done on his business two days ago.
"This case is rather tricky. I heard that some out-of-town merchants disrupted the market prices in the suburbs of Beijing, which led to a murder case. It was a case of hiring someone to kill. When the local government was arresting people, several yamen runners got into trouble, so the Dali Temple had to take action."
The second sister's eyelids twitched: "So, His Highness Prince Ning is personally overseeing this case?"
Feng Zizhou observed her performance and nodded, saying, "Yes, Your Highness should naturally handle such an important case personally. I heard that two of Prince Ning's guards were injured yesterday. Alas, they are vicious criminals after all. They don't care about their lives, but our people cannot do the same."
Seeing his second sister deep in thought, he continued.
"The Prince of Ning is usually calm, but when it comes to solving cases, he's fearless. To be honest, when I heard yesterday that someone was injured, I was terrified, afraid that he was the one who got hurt."
The second sister recalled the incident on the day of the hunt. She later heard from others that she had fallen down a hillside, and the imperial guards had not been able to find her and were about to give up. It was Prince Ning who, disregarding his own safety, insisted on going down and rescued her.
Prince Ning doesn't remember her. Saving her was not out of selfishness, but simply out of a sense of responsibility to everyone.
Thinking of this, the second sister became even more worried and nodded, saying, "His Highness Prince Ning is always like this; it is indeed worrying."
Feng Zizhou raised an eyebrow: "You're worried about him too, aren't you?"
"Of course I'm worried."
Feng Zizhou then made a plan. It seemed that Zhao Ning was right; his cousin truly had feelings for Prince Ning.
But... what about Prince Ning?
Just then, a maid came over, bowed, and said, "Fourth Young Master Feng, the County Princess is over by the pond. Please come over there."